Fiber optic cables are widely used for telecommunications applications. It is often necessary or desirable to splice two segments of fiber optic cable to one another. Splicing of fiber optic cables is typically a multi-step process. Firstly, the ends of the two cables are prepared to expose the optical fibers. Next, the ends of the optical fibers of the two cables are joined together, for example by fusing the fibers together, and then a protective heat shrink tube may be applied directly over the spliced fibers.
In order to avoid damage to the exposed, spliced fibers, a protective enclosure is applied to the spliced area. A number of enclosures are known in the prior art. Some prior art enclosures utilize a rigid or semi-rigid tray or bridge member which extends across and supports the splice. Examples of such systems are described in U.S. Publication No. 2006/0233509 A1 (Ray et al.) published on Oct. 19, 2006, and U.S. Publication No. 2007/0127875 A1 (Allen et al.) published on Jun. 7, 2007.
Other types of prior art enclosures simply utilize an inner tube which extends over the spliced optical fibers, a rigid support rod extending alongside the inner tube, and an outer tube which may be heat shrinkable and encloses both the rod and the inner tube. Structures of this type are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,471 B1 (Ware et al.) issued on Sep. 24, 2002, U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,990 B1 (Dumitriu) issued on Apr. 9, 2002 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,170 (Sarbell) issued on Aug. 8, 2000.
Prior art enclosures for optical fiber splices are generally more rigid than the cables being spliced. The greater rigidity of the enclosure therefore impairs the normal flexibility of the optical fiber cable and may cause problems in some situations, as for example where the cable must be pulled through a curved conduit. In addition, many prior art systems require excessive amounts of time and skill to use, thereby making the splicing of optical fibers relatively expensive compared to other types of cable.
There is therefore a need for enclosures for optical fiber splices which do not impair the flexibility of the cable and which are simple and inexpensive to use.